On the fourth day of the U.S. war in Iran, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Donald Trump made the decision to launch the military offensive because he “had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike” U.S. assets and personnel in the region.
A week later, the White House appears to be intensifying its emphasis on the president’s feelings, thoughts, beliefs and opinions.
At a press conference on Monday, for example, Trump argued that Iran was prepared to try to “take over the Middle East,” defending this absurdity by saying this was based on “information and belief.”
A day later, Leavitt held another briefing in which she reflected on the president’s feelings.
Asked about Trump’s argument that he feared an Iranian strike on U.S. targets within seven days, which he then bumped down to three days, the press secretary replied, “This was a feeling the president had based on facts.” (Soon after, in response to a question about Cuba, she similarly said the president has shared his “belief based on fact.”)
As for Trump’s false assertions that Iran might have struck an Iranian girls’ school with a Tomahawk missile that the country did not have, as part of a broader effort to deny possible U.S. responsibility for killing several dozen children, Leavitt said, “The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public.”
Perhaps, but we’re not really talking about presidential preferences here. Either Iran has Tomahawk missiles or it does not. Either Trump is correct that Iran was responsible for a deadly strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building or he is incorrect.
The president may very well have a right to share his opinions, but there’s a war underway. He’s not a pundit, and he has a responsibility to respond to factual inquires with public assessments that reflect reality, rather than to pontificate based on hunches.
Making matters worse is the frequency with which this comes up. Last week, on the third day of the war, the Republican said, “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. … I think they were going to attack first.”
As an analysis in The New York Times noted, “His decision to order the attack on Iran … was mostly a matter of gut instinct.”
A normal American president, before launching a war, might consult with the National Security Council, among others. The incumbent president, however, is instead relying on his feelings, which wouldn’t be quite so terrifying if (a) he had any idea what he was talking about; and (b) we weren’t talking about matters of life and death.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
